What's in a Name ?

The other day I googled some names of family and friends just to see if they showed up on the inter net. It's amazing how many of us have the same name. I tried both my married and maiden name - there were several listings for Kathleen Dobbs and Kathleen Cooney; the same with the derivative, Kathy and most of them weren't me. The truth is my name almost wasn't Kathleen at all, but Christine. That was my mother's first choice to name me,but when she told her grandfather the name she had picked for his great grand-daughter he frowned and said it wouldn't do as it was too Swedish sounding for our strong Irish/Norwegian roots.

Chris Cooney is nice, but I'm glad my parents settled on Kathleen Rosalie. The Rosalie is after my mother whose middle name is also Rosalie and for St. Rose of Lima,a saint she had a particular devotion to. From the time I was very young mom would tell me I had a faithful friend in St. Rose, and it's true.

By the time I was school age we had moved from Iowa to California; Unbeknown to my mother, the parish church and school I would attend was named St. Rose of Lima. Some might consider that a co-incidence, but not me. I've always thought it was a spiritual hug from St.Rose to my mother.

At home I was mostly called Kathy; Although sometimes my dad shortened it to Kay, and on occasion my mother would lovingly refer to me as Katrinka, or Kate Kadiddlehopper - like on a Saturday morning when we took time out from doing house chores to dance a polka together around the front room, or while sitting on the floor and mom would help me cut out paper dolls. At school, however, the nuns always stuck with the more formal Kathleen. I think it was part of their effort to help me become a more serious student. Unfortunately it didn't work.

When I started playing on the basketball and volleyball team in 7th grade our coach, Liz Miller nicknamed me 'Little One'. I'm sure the first time she pointed to me and said, "Little One, practice that pivot again", was because she couldn't remember my given name. That, and the fact I was smaller than most of my teammates. Anyway, the name stuck and for the next two years that's what Liz always called me.... as did the other girls on the team. I wanted to be taller then so I could be a better spiker at the net, and wasn't too happy I was identified as 'Little One', but eventually I found the name to be endearing and kind of special. Liz was a great influence on my life during that period, I even wanted to follow in her footsteps and become a coach at a Catholic school.

When I started high school it was completely different. It was like i didn't even have a first name, I was simply called 'Cooney'. I don't recall how or why that came about, but think it was due to my dear, darling friend Susan yelling on campus one afternoon, "Hey, Cooney, come over here by us". From then on, it was always, Cooney. Sometimes it used to bother me; I'm not exactly sure why, I guess I just wanted my friends to call me by my first name once in awhile. Ultimately, like the nickname, "Little One" I came to find being called Cooney pretty special.

Phyllis and I met while working together at a community newspaper in the early 1970's. We clicked and somehow knew we'd be forever friends. Her name for me was 'Kid Cooney' and I called her "Ma Smarsh". Names that made us sound more like members of a 1930's gangster ring rather than the Display Advertising sales persons we were. While those tags might seem funny, they're not as silly as the ones we have today for each other: Heckle and Jeckle. Phyllis is Heckle and I'm Jeckle - two clever and compatible Magpie pals. Once when I confronted my son, Gavin about something he was doing I thought immature, he turned to me and in a deadpan voice said, "Mother, you think what I'm doing is immature ? You and Phyllis are middle aged women pretending to be cartoon characters." I realized he made a good point and couldn't help but laugh right out loud.

Once married, my long time high school pals started calling me Kathy or Kath; Just like someone waved a magic wand, no more Cooney. I was, and am Mrs. Gary Dobbs, a name I cherish most dearly.

My husband has always preferred Kathleen. I like that , too. After all these years of marriage we still laugh and giggle when we sing song rhyming our names, "Kathleen and Gary Gene".

To Gavin and Garrett, I'm mother; and grandma Kathy to Zak, Rachel and Emily.

Every name - every part of our name including first,middle, last; Maiden, married or nickname helps tell the story of our life and those who share in it.